The White Horse Brancaster Staithe — Restaurant in King's Lynn and West Norfolk

A favourite food pub on this stretch of the North Norfolk Coast. Friendly and welcoming, it gives a good balance between hotel, restaurant, gastropub and local pub. Staying locally over several years, we’ve eaten in both the restaurant and the bar and always really liked it. The quality of the seafood and its presentation are really excellent. Basically, you are going to enjoy your food wherever you eat here. The beer is pretty good too!

For my wife’s birthday we decided to try the hotel and stayed for the weekend Friday 4th Oct, leaving Monday, 7th Oct. Room 14 was spacious and modern with a huge and comfortable bed and nice furnishings. The bathroom was spacious and spotlessly clean.

Perhaps leaving it a bit late, I managed to get a restaurant booking through OpenTable for the Friday but struggled for Saturday early evening, rang up the White Horse directly and got a table in the bar for the time I wanted. Not quite what I wanted but I was assured it was the same menu and so it proved.

The restaurant service was impeccable on Friday night and the food was really, really good. The majority of the people in the restaurant seemed to be celebrating birthdays, amusingly. The view, by the way, out over the marsh is something to pause over and take in. It is probably one of the best located restaurants on this stretch of the coast!

Saturday night, it was very busy but the obviously extremely capable guy running the bar service said he would get us a table cleared as soon as one came available. We didn’t have long to wait and were seated at a window table just by the bar. It was comfortable and pleasant but very noisy with people standing at the bar. Once again, we had a lovely meal and the service was just as good ... .The White Horse team has really got their service nailed down in both the bar & restaurant. I loved the whole bustle of a table in the bar, my wife less so, it has to be admitted.

Breakfast service each morning was also excellent. The young woman leading service each morning was a gem! There is an excellent menu, not surprisingly with plenty of fish options. Though we stuck with lighter choices for the first morning, we were encouraged to go for something cooked. I loved the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs!!!

So, all in all a 5-star stay. Friendly, efficient staff doing a great job. Someone is managing that really well. Only learning point here? Book your table for dinner each night immediately on booking your room. That’s especially the case if you are staying over the weekend!

Oh, on Sunday, we honoured a tradition from regularly self-catering locally and ate early at Eric’s Fish & Chips with a pot of tea. It’s the seaside, you have to, don’t you? Nothing against The White Horse at all….just something we like to do!

On other matters, there is good parking, a bus stop outside and easy walking access via the North Norfolk Coast path, which runs by the bottom of the garden. If you can’t get in at busy times, despite it being a big car park, there is plenty of parking on the road but avoid the bus stop.

A plea….Could people with huge SUVs please park...

What a disappointment! On our usual annual holiday in North Norfolk with the family, we made a few restaurant bookings well ahead of arriving. Having had a fantastic meal at the Orange Tree a couple of evenings before we were looking forward to a similar experience at the White Horse. Our party of six arrived and we were taken to our table outside on the terrace, where 2 waiting staff were desperately trying to position 6 chairs around a table only large enough for 3 for dinner or 4 for drinks. When we queried the size of the table the waiting staff admitted it wasn't big enough. We were then told that a cancellation meant a similar sized table was free meaning our party could be accommodated but only if we sat at separate tables. We decided to leave, hungry and hugely disappointed. We arrived to have dinner together not to be sat on 2 separate tables when we'd booked weeks before, Why accept a booking for a party of 6 when there clearly isn't a table available to accommodate us? This suggests a restaurant more interested in making money than giving a great dining experience. Food smelled delicious on our way out, the waiting staff were friendly however we won't be coming back.

Dear White Horse,

Thank you for your reply. There are 3 points I would like to make to add further context to your reply.

1. At no point were we made aware that when making our dinner booking for a party of 6 would we be asked to squeeze around a table so small that 3 of us would need to eat dinner from our lapsy, we simply would not have gone ahead with the booking - it would have been lovely to eat at the White Horse but there are more than enough other options and had we known we wouldn't have gone ahead with the booking

2. We are completely aware of the on going pandemic and are supportive of local businesses, indeed one of our party is a key worker

3. My daughter did indeed 'boo' when we found we weren't able to have dinner at the White Horse, Emma has specific learning difficulties, primarily with Speech, Language and Social Communication but of course you wouldn't be aware of this, however please don't attempt to paint a picture of our whole party behaving in this way.

My comments about the White Horse isn't about learning difficulties, isn't about pandemics, isn't even about food (because we didn't have the opportunity to try it) it is simply about a dinner party of 6 being asked to sit around a table too small to accommodate us...

Not great. We had heard good things about this restaurant. We drove 40 mins from our hotel on the first night of our holiday and were so excited to try it. It didn't start well, as we had decided on it after they catered really well for kids on their menu online. However, the one thing my son would eat, was no longer served. Nothing similar offered, just tough luck really. Fair enough though as he's a very fussy eater! My husband had a fab lobster, meat was really tasty. Although be careful, as one of the blades used by the chef was still in it. I had the fish and chips, haddock was a bit plain, but the condiments it came with were lovely. Oysters also fabulous. Service wasn't great though. In fact, it left us really disappointed. We were greeted by a lovely gent at the bar that went to check there was a table ready for us. He came back to say they were ready for us, but when we went through to the restaurant they had no clue who we were and nobody greeted us, we greeted them! Table had a lovely view of the marshes. The food was great on the whole. The dishes weren't cleared for a long time however, so no desserts offered or extra drinks. No sauces offered either. There were two of the team more interested in lighting candles for the evening guests, even with empty plates in front of them. This is when my husband brought it to their attention. So then instead of an apology when we asked for the bill, they all disappeared to tell each other about what my husband had said. The waiter then came with the bill and stood looking over his shoulder as he counted the cash out for the bill! Compliments to the chefs, but you really need to concentrate on the service. My husband has highlighted the issues we had to the management team. We both used to work in hospitality and are passionate about making someone's day. This seems to be lost in this place, possibly still the aftermath of covid. We weren't after money off or anything like that, as the food was good, but people will stop coming if they don't feel valued.

Rob - you manage to criticize EVERY review on here unless it is 5 star. Granted the swear word used by my husband was unnecessary, but used out of frustration and not used directly at any team member. I can understand being tired after a crazy bank holiday, but maybe motivate your team more to concentrate on something more than...